I couldn’t tell what it was at first, but that wasn’t what I was expecting
i thought it was an otter, then i thought it was a shark, and let me say i was wrong both times
There’s literally no way to guess. There’s no way at all to guess
i showed this to my mom, my aunt, my grandma, and the minute the quarantine ends this is going to become my go to dinner party conversation starter
Sea serpent
Moose are pretty good swimmers and they swim enough for Orca Whales to pose a significant threat.
My favorite moose fact is the cryptid herd in New Zealand. We know they’re out there, but nobody has seen one in over half a century.
In New Zealand.
Hi I’m sorry. I usually don’t insist that people elaborate on their comments but-
What the everloving fuck are you talking about???
In 1910, a herd of 6 females and 4 males was released in Fiordland. The last confirmed sighting was in 1952, and it was considered marginal territory for them, so it was presumed they had died out.
Until some moose hair was found in 2002.
This lead to extensive searches and installation of automatic cameras - none of which have caught an actual moose, though bedding and rub sites have been found.
The current theory as I understand it is that they’re living off of rich seaweed beds in the area.
Are you bored by people who call any extinct animal that looks reptilian a dinosaur? Do you feel like telling them it’s just like Homer Simpson referring to an elephant as a feline? Get those conversations started with our lovely tote bags!
Gorgonopsids were predatory therapsids, they entered the pop culture landscape with their appearances in media like Dino Crisis and Primeval. Inostrancevia was around the size of a large bear.
Dicynodonts were members of a diverse clade of non-mammalian therapsids. They survived the Great Dying and ranged from rat to elephant-sized. This is Ischigualastia, from Argentina.
Fossil specimen on display at the American Museum of Natural History
Reconstruction by Hirokazu Tokugawa
When: Permian (~299 to 265 million years ago)
Where: North America
What: Cotylorhynchus is a member of one of the most basal groups of synapsids, the Caseidae. Cotylorhynchus was a herbivore, and reached lengths of up to 20 feet (~6 meters) long, with a massive barrel chest, putting weight estimates at around 2 tons. This animal is very large for its time… well at least its body is. Cotylorhynchus has one of the most extreme cases of ‘tiny head’ I have ever seen. Even more so than the sail-backed Edaphaosaurus! Which is closer to modern mammals than Cotylorhynchus is. It is one of the most primitive animals known that unambiguously falls on the synapsid lineage. It is so basal that it does not even have any differentiation seen in its dentition, though there are less teeth than found in the non synapsid contemporaries of this wee-headed creature.
Mounted specimen on display at the American Museum of Natural History, NYC.
Reconstruction by Dmitry Bogdanov
When: Late Carboniferous to Early Permian (~305 - 280 million years ago)
Where: North America
What:Ophiacodon is a basal synapsid, meaning it is more closely related to mammals than modern reptiles. It was a fearsome predator of its day, with a long snout (over half of its skull length) full of pointy teeth. These teeth are so sharp that they are reminicent of the fangs of snakes - the name Ophiacodon means ‘Snake Tooth’. Ophiacodon reached up to 10 feet (~ 3 meters) in length and is thought to have preyed upon its fellow tetrapods rather than insects, as many previous predators focused on.
Ophiacodon occurs very early in synapsid evolutionary history, it is even more basal than the ’sailbacks’; almost at the base of the spilt between the major living aminote clades. Ophiacodon is part of the group Ophiacodontidae, which ranged from Mid Carboniferous to the Early Permian. About a half dozen genera are known for this group, and they all were good sized predators. Ophiacodontids and other basal synapsid clades were once grouped together under the name pelycosaurs, however, this group is not monophyletic/a natural group. That means that some synapsids that were held as pelycosaurs are more closely related to mammals than they are to other 'pelycosaurs’. 'Pelycosaurs’ can be though of as an evolutionary grade in the synapsid lineage; these are the members of our group that more closely resemble reptiles - they had sprawling gaits and their their teeth were not differentiated - there is not even a distinct canine. Ophiacodon and its kin are assuredly synapsids, however, as shown by the single opening behind their eye sockets - their single temporal fenestra.
Mounted specimen on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History
Reconstruction by Dmitry Bogdanov
When: Triassic (242 - 230 million years ago)
Where: Worldwide
What:Dinodontosaurus is a synapsid, or ‘mammal like reptile’. It was one of the most common large herbivorous animals in the mid Triassic. These beasts reached lengths of 8 feet (2.4 meters) and are estimated to have weighed hundres of pounds. They fall within the clade Dicynodontia, so named for their two large front teeth. A fossil find in Brazil of over 10 Dinodontosaurus, including juveniles, shows these animals lived in herds and cared for their young.
Synapsids were extremtly common in the Permian, but were hit hard by the end Permian extinction. Some groups, such as the Dicynodonts exemplified by Dinodontosaurus, however, made it though the extinction just fine. The extinction at the end of the Triassic period, however, was brutal to this clade, wiping out the vast majority of species. Some dicynodonts made it though this extinction, but the clade continued to dwindle throughout the rest of the Mesozoic, with the last dicynodont vanishing in the mid Cretaceous. In the synapsid family tree dicynodonts are fairly far up there, falling far closer to gorgonopsidsthan to the basal “pelycosaurs”.
Another selection of quick sketches done recently, longisquama, concavenator, smok, iguanodon, torvosaurus, stellasaurus, dilong, tauraspis, mei long and suminia more substantial content on the way soon, maybe
A selection of very quick sketches I didn’t post to tumblr, rhamphorhynchus, asteriornis, deccenatherium, quetzalcoatlus, temnodontosaurus, cotylorhynchus, edmontosaurus, concavispina, dilophosaurus and spinosaurus
